Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book examines China’s energy resources, a critical bottleneck in its effort to promote rapid industrialization. It looks at religion in China, as an example of both the liberalization of cultural expression since 1978 and the political constraints that remain. The book highlights a shift in China’s international posture that has accompanied strains with the United States over arms sales to Taiwan, a shift that leaves Peking more independent of Washington. In the political sphere, the Deng Xiaoping leadership made steady progress in rebuilding government and Party institutions, but also faced fractious opposition on issues of policy. As China was pulled in competing directions during 1981 and 1982, so too was outsiders’ understanding of the country. To an extent, this represented a new swing of the emotional pendulum concerning China. Periods of euphoria and good feeling have given way to more negative outlooks.